


Once Upon A Time On Port Island

by vivvav



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, The AFR Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-05-03 13:32:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14570070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivvav/pseuds/vivvav
Summary: The Shadow Operatives learn of the existence of another Persona user who was in Iwatodai back in 2009.





	1. Prologue: 9 Years Later

Yosuke let out a sigh as he opened up a filing cabinet in the old Ergo laboratory.

“Y’know, when I was told we were goin’ to Yakushima, I figured we’d have some time to kick back on the beach.”

“That sounds like something Junpei-San would say, Yosuke-San.” Aigis loaded up another box full of old files onto a cart which one of Mitsuru’s maids wheeled out of the room.

“Yeah, well, you can blame him.” Yosuke pouted as he extracted an entire file and tossed it into an open box. “Junpei-Senpai told me how all of you guys went on vacation here back in the day. Guess it got me thinking about beaches and stuff.”

“I am sorry to say we won’t have any time for seaside recreation, Yosuke-San.” Aigis too dropped a file in the box. “These files need to be brought back to headquarters as soon as possible for digitization, and it is our job to escort them back as soon as we’re done packing them.”

“Yeah, I know the mission.” Yosuke sighed again. “I could sure use a break though. Lately all of our missions seem to be this grunt work instead of actual Shadow Operating.”

“I understand that this is not the most exciting detail, but it is still crucial that this task be completed, Yosuke-San.”

“Hey, you don’t have to worry about my work ethic.” Yosuke leaned against the filing cabinet he’d spent the last few minutes emptying. “Ask anybody who knows me: Yosuke Hanamura’s no slouch. Whether I was pulling a shift at Junes or working with the investigation team, I never slack- AAAAH!”

Without the extra ballast provided by the pounds and pounds of paper it had held for years, the file cabinet collapsed under Yosuke’s weight, tipping over into the corner of the room. There was a loud crash as it slammed into the wall, the corner breaking through a piece of drywall.

“Yosuke-San!” Aigis ran over to Yosuke, who had hit the floor when he lost his balance. She crouched down and rolled him over onto his back. “Are you injured? Do you require medical assistance!?”

“I’m fine.” Yosuke groaned as he sat up. “I’m sore, but I don’t think anything’s broken or bleeding.”

“Your analysis is lacking, Yosuke-San.” Aigis pointed to the filing cabinet embedded in the wall. “The wall is broken. I am certain that Mitsuru-San will be taking that out of your paycheck.”

“What!?” Yosuke jumped to his feet. “I thought we had like, collateral damage insurance and stuff!”

“That applies to environmental destruction caused in battle, not careless mistakes made during clerical work.”

“C’mon, this is a Kirijo facility! There’s gotta be a guy who repairs walls or something! I mean, it’s not even that bad!” Yosuke grabbed the filing cabinet and pulled it out of the wall, standing it up again. “I mean, this is just regular drywall in a storage room, it’s not like I broke any…”

Yosuke stopped talking, staring at the hole in the wall.

“Yosuke-San?” Aigis waved her hand in front of Yosuke’s face. “Are you alright? Are you experiencing a delayed reaction to your fall?”

“I’m good.” Yosuke pushed away Aigis’s hand and moved to the hole, tearing away a few loose pieces of drywall. “But look at this!”

Sitting in the wall was a shelf holding a briefcase. It had a couple combination locks and the letters ’S.I.’ monogrammed on it.

“That’s gotta be some kind of hidden file” Yosuke said. “What do you think ’S.I.’ stands for? ‘Secret information’?”

“That seems unlikely.” Aigis picked up the box. “The letters likely designate the briefcase’s owner. And given the history of this research facility, there is only one likely candidate that comes to mind.”

“Who’s that?”

“Shuji Ikutsuki.”

* * *

Aigis called in the discovery of the briefcase to Mitsuru, who told her not to open it in case it was boobytrapped. When the helicopter returned to the Shadow Operatives’ Tokyo Headquarters, Aigis and Yosuke brought the briefcase down to the lab, where it was immediately tested for explosives or any other hidden mechanism.

“Well…” The lab tech handed the briefcase back to Aigis. “We’ve run x-rays, ion mobility spectrometry, infrared, and even had Koromaru sniff it for chemicals. All the tests returned negative.”

“All of them?” Yosuke asked.

Koromaru barked in assent.

“As far as we can tell, it’s just an ordinary briefcase with a regular paper file inside” the tech said. “The most advanced thing about it is the locks.”

“Thank you” Aigis said. “If it is safe, I will now be delivering this case to Mitsuru-San.”

“Alright, let’s go” Yosuke said.

“Oh no, not you, Yosuke-San.” Aigis shook her head. “I’ll be going to Mitsuru-San alone. You’re to join Ken-San for the unpacking of the other files we brought back from Yakushima.”

“You gotta be kidding me!” Yosuke stared into Aigis’s eyes for a moment, the blank robotic stare he got back telling him she was not kidding. “But I’m the one who found the briefcase!”

“Yes, and when I told Mitsuru-San how you discovered it, she was… displeased.” A little humanity returned to Aigis’s eyes as she tried to give Yosuke a reassuring smile. “She said since your blunder bore fruit, she’s willing to forgive you this time, but would like you to finish the original mission, Yosuke-San.”

“Aw man…” Yosuke grumbled as he headed for the door. “I’m gettin’ so sick of paperwork.”

* * *

“The item as requested, Mitsuru-San.”

Aigis handed the case to Mitsuru, who remained seated at her desk.

“Thank you, Aigis.”

“What do you expect to find?”

“I don’t know.” Mitsuru stared at the briefcase with a grave expression on her face. “I thought we had recovered all of Ikutsuki’s research. This case is very light, so I doubt there’s some earth-shattering revelations contained within.”

“But if he thought to hide it in a wall, surely it must be important” Aigis said.

“Well, that’s the theory, isn’t it?” Mitsuru began fiddling with the combination lock.

“If you’d like, Mitsuru-San, I could open it for you.”

“No thank you, Aigis.” Mitsuru smirked as the briefcase popped open. “Ikutsuki was an intelligent man, but he had the foolish habit of using the same passcode for everything.”

Aigis leaned forward and stared in intrigue at an unlabeled black filing folder Mitsuru pulled out of the briefcase. The head of the Shadow Operatives opened the folder and found five simple pages bundled together, text printed on both sides of every sheet.

“What is it?” Aigis asked.

“It seems to be a list of names.” Mitsuru began scanning the list. “Ikutsuki himself is listed here. As is my father.”

“A list of personnel involved in Shadow research, perhaps?”

“No, there are others here.” Misturu’s brow furrowed. “’Maiko Oohashi’… ‘Bunkichi Kitamura’… These aren’t Kirijo Group employees, but I recognize these names from somewhere. But where?”

“Those are individuals that we had to rescue from Tartarus” Aigis said. “As I recall, Makoto-San was particularly concerned for their wellbeing above all other individuals we rescued.”

“Ah yes, that’s right.” Mitsuru let out a slight chuckle. “He said they were his friends. What an odd boy, befriending an old man and a little girl.”

“Makoto-San had a great many friends outside of S.E.E.S., Mitsuru-San.”

“Yes, I remember.” Mitsuru started to frown, her finger tracing over the paper. “His name’s on this list too. In red ink.”

“Red?”

“Yes.” Mitsuru resumed scanning the list. “There are a few individuals on this list whose names are in red. Mine, Akihiko’s, Amada’s, even the members of Strega.”

“Intriguing…” Aigis stood perfectly still, staring off into space. Mitsuru didn’t notice, still going through the list of names. After a moment, Aigis spoke up again. “Mitsuru-San, I have formed a hypothesis as to the nature of this list.”

“I’m listening.”

“I believe this was a list Ikutsuki-San was keeping of individuals who could experience the Dark Hour.” Aigis walked around behind Mitsuru’s desk and pointed to Yukari’s name in red and Ikutsuki’s name in black with different fingers. “It would seem that the red names were Persona users, while those in black were simply ordinary people who remained in the world after midnight.”

“Are you certain?” Mitsuru looked up from the list at Aigis.

“Do you have reason to doubt my conclusion?”

“No, it’s sound logic. Although there is one thing that concerns me.” Mitsuru pointed to the top of the first page, which showed the date the list was printed; July 1st, 2009. “Amada’s name is in red, but this list is from a couple weeks before he moved into the dorm with us.”

“I’m sure Ikutsuki-San had his reasons for waiting to recruit Ken-San” Aigis said. “It does not seem likely to me that someone who was planning to betray us as he did would inform us of every potential Persona user the moment he learned of them.”

“You have a point.” Mitsuru shook her head. “Yamagishi’s recruitment seemed rather sporadic at the time. In retrospect, it makes sense that Ikutsuki knew about her well before we crossed paths with her.”

“Overall, it would seem this list is of no consequence.” Aigis casually scanned through the names. “Most of these individuals were never involved in any incidents with Shadows, and the Persona users are all accounted for.”

“So it would seem.” Mitsuru sighed. “I guess Ikutsuki just stashed this away for his own personal reference, but it’s not much use after all these-“

Mitsuru’s eyes widened. Aigis took notice immediately.

“Mitsuru-San? Are you unwell?”

“Aigis…” Mitsuru’s eyes were locked onto the bottom of the final page. “There’s a red name here I don’t recognize.”

“An unknown Persona user?” Aigis looked back to the list. “Where?”

“Right here.” Mitsuru pointed to the spot she was focused on.

“I see. How curious.” Aigis stared at the name. “This name is not in any of my memory files.”

“Aigis, I believe I’ve found our next mission.”

“You wish to track down this person?”

“That’s right. I don’t want any more surprises from Ikutsuki like Sho Minazuki.” Mitsuru rose from her desk. “I want to find out everything I can about this ‘Minako Arisato’.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short opener, but we'll get to the good stuff starting next chapter.
> 
> Which will be... Um...
> 
> Look this just got thrown onto the pile with three other multi-chapter works I gotta wrap up and all my ideas for one-shots. I'll try not to take too long telling this but I make no promises. All I know is I've wanted to tell this one for a few months now and this seemed like the right time to start.


	2. Walking Through a Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minako Arisato's been having the same strange dream every night. Tonight, it gets even stranger.

** July 29th, 2009 **

“HEADS UP, ARISATO!”

“Huh?”

Minako came out of her dazed state to see something green heading directly at her. Sadly, she had not woken up quickly enough to actually react, and got pegged in the face with a tennis ball. It didn’t hurt a lot, but Minako still flinched, dropping her tennis racket in the process.

“Come on!” Rio stomped her foot on the court. “Get your head in the game, Arisato!”

“I mean, if you wanna get technical, I’d say my head was pretty in the game just now.” Minako rubbed the spot on her forehead where she’d been beaned.

“Yeah, yeah. Very funny.” Rio shook her head and looked around. Once again, she and Minako were the only people to actually show up to practice. “Look, if you can’t give me a challenge we might as well call it a day. Let’s grab our stuff and get outta here.”

“Yes ma’am, captain!” Minako made a big show of saluting Rio, stomping her foot on the ground in the process. Her toes caught the lip of her racket, forcing it to swing upwards, the handle’s end slamming into her knee. She hissed in pain as Rio rolled her eyes.

Not ten minutes later, the two left the school together. Their ways home shared the same path for most of the trip.

“Seriously,” Rio said, “are you ok?”

“Are you for real?” Minako snickered. “Tennis balls don’t really hurt, you know.”

“Not that!” Rio yelled. “You’ve been really weird lately! You keep falling asleep in class, you can’t focus in tennis practice, and you’re constantly spacing out in conversations!”

Rio waited for Minako’s response, but it never came. She looked at her friend to find the brunette staring off into the distance with hollow eyes.

“Hey! Arisato!” Rio snapped her fingers in Minako’s face. “Wake up!”

“Huh?” Minako’s eyes widened and she let out a big yawn. “Sorry, Rio.” Minako rubbed her eyes. “I just haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been up all night playing that online game.”

“I’ll have you know I quit that game three weeks ago!” Minako huffed. “I just keep having this weird dream.”

“Nightmares, huh?” Rio scratched her head. “It’s probably your diet. You go to Wild Duck Burger way too much.”

“There is no such thing!” Minako shouted. “And it’s not nightMARES, it’s nightMARE. Just one. Over and over again.”

“Well, nightmares are usually based on something in your life that’s bugging you” Rio said. “So maybe you need to solve that problem first.”

“I don’t think so.” Minako sighed. “It’s not about school or boys or anything. It’s just… weird…”

Minako stared at Rio longingly. Clearly she wanted Rio to ask about the dream, which is not something Rio wanted to do because talking about dreams was the single most boring thing in the world. But Minako’s stare only intensified with time, and clearly she wasn’t going to relent. Rio sighed, deciding to just get this over with.

“Gee,” Rio said flatly, “what happens in the dream?”

“Well if you really wanna know…” Minako giggled, but her mood quickly deflated after that. “It always starts the same. I wake up in the middle of the night with this eerie feeling, like something’s off. I look out my window, the sky is green, and the moon is huge, like, at least four times as big as the moon’s supposed to be.”

“Uh-huh…”

“So then I try to fall back asleep for a while— in the dream— and then I can’t, so I get up and explore the house a bit. And first I go to check on my parents, but when I get to their room, I don’t see them sleeping there.”

“I don’t think I wanna know what you see your parents doing” Rio said.

“EW!” Minako cringed. “It’s not like that! They’re not there at all! Instead there’s just these two weird coffins standing on top of their bed.”

“So… they’re vampires?”

“I dunno.” Minako shrugged. “I try opening the coffins but I can’t. So then I start feeling thirsty and go down into the kitchen for a glass of water. But when I turn on the sink, it’s not normal water. It runs red like blood.”

“Blood, huh?” Rio stopped walking as the girls reached the point where their paths home split. “Are you sure this isn’t based on something in your real life?”

“What are you talking about?” Minako asked. “Do you know something about my life that I don’t?”

“I hope not.” Rio chuckled. “This sounds like it could be a PMS thing.”

“Nuh-uh.” Minako shook her head. “This all started like, half a week after my last period ended.”

“TMI, Arisato.”

“You’re the one who brought it up!”

“Alright, that’s fair. I guess I did bring it on myself.” Rio yawned. “So anything else happen in this dream? You get attacked by monsters or wind up naked in school or something?”

“No, I just shut the sink off then go back to bed.” Minako shrugged. “Then I’ll wake up like, after midnight, and go downstairs and get water for real, and everything’s normal.”

“I see…” Rio scratched her chin. “And you do that every time?”

“Well yeah, I’m thirsty.” Minako leaned in and whispered, even though there was nobody else around. “Between you and me, I think I snore a lot when I’m sleeping.”

“Why are you whispering?” Rio asked.

“Because it’s embarrassing!”

“You were just telling me about when your period happens. How is snoring worse?”

“That’s girl stuff! Snoring is- Look, can we get back to the dream!?”

“Alright.” Rio rolled her eyes. “Well, if you’re always getting water afterwards, maybe it’s your brain’s weird way of telling you that you’re dehydrated? Like, ‘you’re too late, you should have drank sooner, now there’s only death’ or something.”

“I dunno, that all sounds pretty crazy.”

“Well, it’s YOUR brain.” Rio smirked. “Crazy isn’t much of a stretch.”

“Hey!” Minako crossed her arms and turned up her nose. “That comment was totally uncalled for! Just for that, you’re uninvited to my birthday party.”

“I didn’t realize I was invited to begin with.”

“Well you’re not anymore, so nuts to you!” Minako punctuated her best attempt at an insult by sticking out her tongue.

“Whatever.” Rio realized the two had reached the intersection where they always split up and turned away from Minako, crossing the street. “Next practice is on Friday, Arisato. Try getting some sleep before then.”

* * *

Minako was woken by a chill running over her skin. She opened her eyes, and when the world came into focus, it was that unnatural shade of green again, like somebody had painted the very air itself. She looked out the window and saw that giant moon.

“This dream again” she mumbled sleepily. Minako decided to go through the motions, see if anything was different. She tiptoed to her parents’ room and opened the door. As always, where her parents should’ve been slumbering were two coffins. Frankly, she didn’t understand how they stayed balanced on the mattress. It seemed like they ought to have fell over already. Minako considered giving one a push to see it it’d go down, but decided against it.

Next she headed downstairs to the kitchen, turning the sink’s faucet. Unsurprisingly, the water ran red. Minako shut the faucet off and decided to head back to her room like usual. But halfway up the stairs, something occurred to her.

_“Dreams are supposed to mean something, right? But I can’t figure this out… Maybe there’s more to it I’m not seeing ‘cuz I’m stuck in a routine?”_

Minako returned to her room and looked out the window again, at the green sky and the massive moon.

_“Maybe I’m supposed to go out there…”_

Minako changed out of her pajamas and into some casual clothes and headed downstairs again. When she reached the front door, she unlocked it and paused. This dream was weird enough, and now she was about to head into the unknown. Was this really a good idea? Maybe the smart thing would just be to head back to bed so she could wake up for real again.

_“Of course, if I told Rio that, she’d probably say doing the smart thing is out of character for me.”_

Minako steeled her resolve and opened the door, stepping out onto the streets of Iwatodai. Oddly enough, there wasn’t any change in temperature. She was expecting a blast of cold night air, but outside wasn’t any chillier than inside was. It was eerily quiet, though. It’s not like Minako would normally expect to see a bunch of people out and about at midnight, but this was supposed to be a city, right? It seemed to her that there might’ve been one or two people wandering around, like drunk salarymen or partying college students or something. Then again, she had only just stepped outside, so maybe she’d run into people down the street.

Every step Minako took seemed louder than usual. She wasn’t sure if her footsteps actually were louder or if it was just her nerves. There was something weirdly ominous about it, as if every step was heralding danger, her situation growing more precarious with every inch she drifted further from home. Minako decided to head towards the school, if for no other reason than she knew the path and it was closer than Paulownia Mall. Minako turned left as she reached the intersection where she and Rio usually parted ways, and what she saw was more than she was expecting.

Dreams didn’t tend to be this consistent. Minako figured she’d see new weird stuff, but the street instead had a couple coffins scattered about identical to the pair in her parents’ bedroom, and there were puddles of blood dotting the street. That all said, there was one new weird thing: A gigantic tower where the school should have been. And it wasn’t a normal tower, like a skyscraper or something. It was a weird, twisted, uneven thing. Parts of it were castle-like, parts of it looked like it was made of stairs, some features even looked like a big scary mouth, like the tower was gonna start moving and gobbling people up. It looked like something out of a scary movie.

Minako’s curiosity had reached full burn by this point, and she began to take a few steps towards the giant tower. With the moon at her back and the insidious spire before her, this dream felt both more real and surreal than ever before. It kind of felt like there was some sort of destiny waiting for Minako in the tower, and she was weirdly ok with that feeling, even though she knew she shouldn’t be.

And then, after only a block, she felt something else. Another presence. There were some strange sounds, and Minako knew she wasn’t alone anymore. She took in her surroundings, the light of the giant moon keeping the street illuminated, but she didn’t see whatever was with her anywhere in the distance. Still, she knew that something else was there. Something that wasn’t human.

A chill ran up Minako’s spine as she realized that whatever was there was right behind her, at her feet. And now, whatever it was, it was rubbing against her leg. Slowly, she turned around and looked down, and the second she saw something wiggling on the ground, she jumped back and shrieked.

Sitting at Minako’s feet was a white Shiba Inu, tongue hanging out of its mouth and tail wagging happily. It looked up at her with its red eyes and barked.

“A dog?” Minako calmed down, but only for a second. She felt like an idiot for thinking there was actually a monster looking around, and the void that fear had left was quickly filled by anger. “DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!”

The dog sat on its hindquarters, ears drooping down, and let out a whimper. Minako’s heart sunk into her chest.

“Alright, I’m sorry for yelling at you.” Minako knelt down and scratched the dog’s head, and his spirits lifted immediately, ears perking up and tail wagging again. “I know you didn’t mean to freak me out.”

The dog barked happily.

“Say, I think I know you…” Minako stopped scratching the dog. “You’re that dog from the shrine, right?”

The dog barked again.

“Yeah, that’s right! You sure are a long way from your home, uh…” Minako tried to recall the dog’s name. She knew it was something color-related. “Shiromaru, right?”

The dog let out a low growl. Not exactly threatening, but more like it was disappointed or annoyed. It was strange how emotive and smart he seemed, but then again, there were MUCH weirder things about this dream.

“No, that’s not right.” Minako scratched her own head. “Not Shiro… Was it… Koromaru?”

The dog barked happily again.

“Yeah, that’s it!” Minako gave Koromaru a few pets. “Gosh, your fur’s so soft. It’s almost like you’re really here and I’m not dreaming. Unless…” Minako stopped petting the dog and straightened her back as a new possibility came to her mind. “What if I’m in YOUR dream?”

Minako stared into Koromaru’s vermillion peepers looking for the truth, but all she got was a confused head tilt from the town’s most famous furry resident. Minako sighed and continued petting him.

“No, that doesn’t make any sense. Dogs don’t dream. I think.”

Koromaru suddenly jumped back and started growling, his entire body stiffening up.

“Okay, I’m sorry!” Minako threw her hands up in the air. “Dogs can totally dream! My bad!”

Koromaru kept growling, his head turning away from Minako towards a nearby alley. He made a break for the alley, barking all the way, leaving Minako alone in the middle of the street. Minako considered running after him, but dashing into an alley after an angry dog in the middle of the night seemed like a dangerous prospect. Whatever stoked Koromaru’s ire, be it a feral cat or some shady guy or maybe even a genuine monster, Minako knew there was no realistic way she could go into that alley without getting hurt.

_“But… This isn’t real, right?”_ Minako looked up at the moon. _“This is a dream, so I should be able to do whatever I want, shouldn’t I?”_

Minako crossed her arms, holding her hands in front of her face with the fingers fanned out, and took a deep breath.

“MOON PRISM POWER! MAKE UP!”

Nothing happened. Minako fiddled with a lock of her hair and looked down at the ground.

_“No good, huh? I wonder if…”_

Minako crouched down, spreading her legs and balling up her fists. She started screaming as loudly as she could.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH…”

She could feel her blood rushing and her heart pounding, her screaming only stopping so she could take a breath and then start screaming again.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH…”

There was a rush of endorphins as Minako’s knees started shaking. She was probably crouched down more than necessary and was starting to feel it, but she felt like she was really on the verge of something.

“KAIOKEN!”

Minako looked at her arms and legs. She had turned a shade of red, but that was more due to getting herself worked up. She was not glowing, and she didn’t feel like her power had magnified. She returned to a normal posture, panting heavily, and wiped some sweat from her brow.

_“Guess it’s not that kind of dream”_ she thought as her heart rate returned to normal. _“I think I’ve had enough excitement for one night anyway. It’s time to go back to bed.”_

Minako trudged back to her house, letting all thoughts of dogs and weird towers and coffins and blood and her failed attempts at transformation leave her head. Whatever energy she had before was gone after wandering the streets and screaming like a lunatic, and now she just wanted to get back in bed and wake up in a normal, non-green world. The walk home seemed to take a bit longer than the walk away from it, but Minako’s footsteps didn’t seem to reverberate through the entire city anymore, so that was an improvement.

Minako got home and lazily kicked off her shoes, not bothering to lock the door. For a second she considered getting something to drink so she could replenish her fluids, but then she remembered the sink was only dispensing blood, and even in a dream, she didn’t wanna drink that stuff. She galumphed up the stairs, not caring about waking up the coffins in her parents’ bedroom. At least, not until she had already reached the top.

_“Wait… Blood… Coffins… Is this a dream about vampires? If it’s nighttime, shouldn’t they be awake now?”_

Minako poked her head into her parents’ room, but the coffins were still closed. Which either meant that her parents were not vampires, or they were and just kept their coffins closed when they left them and were already wandering the streets in search of prey. Maybe they were sucking the blood out of Koromaru right now. Either way, she’d had this dream a few times and she’d never been attacked by vampires, so she figured it was safe to go back to bed.

Minako finally found herself in her own room and collapsed on the bed, not even taking the time to change back into her pajamas. And so, after her bizarre midnight excursion, Minako Arisato shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Minako reawakened when she felt a rush of warmth overcome her. She slowly opened her eyes, looking towards her digital clock. If was one minute past midnight, just like it always was whenever she woke up from her weird dream. Feeling sweaty with dry mouth, Minako decided to head downstairs and get a glass of water. On the way down, she pressed her ear against the door to her parents’ bedroom and heard her dad’s trademark snoring. How her mom managed to get slumber next to what sounded like a bear, Minako had no idea. Still, she had bigger concerns right now, mainly dehydration.

Minako arrived in the kitchen and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard, sticking it under the sink’s faucet. She turned it on and ordinary water came out. Minako left the sink running as she gulped down the water with the gusto of a girl who’d been wandering the desert for a week, sticking her glass under the stream coming from the faucet before she was finally satisfied. Minako decided to do a quick wash job, scrubbing the glass with soap and a sponge and putting it back in the cupboard. And after returning the glass to its proper place, she saw her reflection as she closed the cupboard’s glass door.

And it was here that she realized that she was not in her pajamas, but her casual day clothes.

Minako looked down, confirming that she was not in her usual sleeping outfit. She was dressed in the same clothes as in that dream she’d just had. Questions started running through her head. Why was she dressed like this? And just why had she been so darn thirsty? Sure, she knew she snored a little, but she was pretty sure she didn’t usually sweat in her sleep. And as these questions and more buzzed around in her head, one course of action crystallized in Minako’s head.

_“I should check the front door.”_

Minako found the door unlocked and her shoes strewn about the floor instead of in their usual spot next to her parents’ work shoes. Minako returned her shoes to their proper place and locked the door, and looked at her outfit again.

_“Was I sleepwalking? Did I really go outside in the middle of the night?”_

If she had been, this was probably something to discuss with Mr. Edogawa. He was kind of a weirdo, but this wasn’t normal, so he’d probably know a thing or two about it. All Minako knew is that if she HAD been wandering around, it was well past time for her to get back to bed. She headed up to her room for what she hoped would be the final time for the evening and took off her clothes, getting ready to get back in her pajamas. As she tossed the pants she’d been wearing over the back of her chair, she noticed something on the cuff of one of the legs. She took a closed look and found something thin and white, which she plucked off the pant leg and held up right in front of her eye.

“White hair?” Minako wracked her brain trying to think of where it could’ve come from, but only one answer came to mind. “Did I really meet Koromaru while I was sleepwalking?”

Minako put the hair on her desk, got back in her pajamas, and climbed into bed. As she lay down, her eyes were directed to the window, and the normal-sized moon visible in the sky.

_“Just how much of that was real?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took so long to come out. I did get to work on Chapter 2 immediately after posting Chapter 1, but then I accidentally deleted the WIP while decluttering my desktop and got demoralized from rewriting all the work I just lost, so I focused on other fics. I'd like to say that the announcement of FeMC in PQ2 reinvigorated me to get back to this, but honestly, it's just kind of a coincidence.
> 
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy my take on her. This is actually not the personality I originally envisioned for her at all. I played the FeMC run on NG+, so in my mind FeMC was always this Batman-esque badass who could handle any situation thrown at her with ease. So we'll see how this clown pans out.
> 
> Next chapter will hopefully not take another 3 months to put out.


End file.
